Watermaker or not?

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david36

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Having experienced increasing problems in getting water this season in and around the Med, we are thinking about fitting a 12v watermaker over the winter. I guess that we would need at least 12 litres per hour to make it worthwhile. Power consumption is not too critical but space is. Reliability and ease of use is also important. Are there any makes/models which stand out as highly regarded for small cruising yachts and any which are to be avoided. Are watermakers generally regarded as worth the effort? Any advice gratefully received. Fair winds.
 
Hi David, we recently returned from the 2005/7 BWR where every boat apart from ours, and one other, had watermakers so when we really got desperate the others kindly topped up our gerries for us. If we did the trip again we would definitely have one fitted (as we wouldn't rally it again) but would also want a bigger boat than the current 40 footer to help house it - otherwise not enough space. Most boats had problems with their WMs, mostly from dirty water blocking membranes (you can't use marina water for example) and, more commonly, from irregular usage. I can't remember the term they used but if you do not intend using a WM for 3-4 days you have to carry out a mini winterisation every time - quite a lot of hassle! Not a lot of help I realise but some feeback to get you going.......
 
We use a Dessalo 60 litre per hour in our boat. Use it regularly and its great. Someone described home made water as the most expensive in the world and they may be right but the conveninece is fantastic. We don't do anything to it if we leave it for more than 4 days, it self flushes after use and has an automatice sensor to test for water quality, so once turned on with the pressure set we leave it for 3 hours and one tank is full. It draws about 30 amps so we try to tie it in with engine runs. Wouldn't be without it.
 
Don't buy Spectra they use proprietory parts and their own chemicals. Not all watermakers need regular cleaning - HRO's just need to be used once a month. We have one (240V) but I don't know if they do 12V. H2OTech have a good reputation and use off the shelf parts.
 
After having so many problems getting drinking water this year (we try to spend most of our time at anchor, 40€ a night is expensive for us long term cruisers). For the four of us plus showering we are thinking either a 30 ltr per hour set or even a 60 ltr and hour set. As we now have small gen' set electricity is not a problem.

We'll adding one as soon as we can afford it! I suspect the further east we go the harder water will be to come by (in large quantities) and the poorer the the quality will get.

Looked at the Schenker system last time back in the UK also the Spectra stuff. ECO-TECH seem to have good system which uses off the shelf parts and you have to put it together and fit it yourself, always a good thing when it goes 'tits up' at some stage.

The more I think about it, the more it seems a good idea. We'll only need to go alongside in the summer for food and fuel. Otherwise we're totaly independant.
 
We use our Specta constantly during the summer every year and have done since early 2005. No real probs - one breakdown fixed under warranty. Cost of chemicals and materials less than €30 pa. No real maintenance to speak of - less than doing the washing up, to be honest. We make 40 litres per hour and can shower and use as much as we like at anchor. We usually find anchorages are OK for watermaking but we don't fancy using a marina. Anyway, you've got city water in the marina.

Actually, watermaker water is the nicest tasting water you'll ever find. We filter everything through our General Ecology and don't buy bottled water but the summer water from the sea is always much nicer and makes a smashing cuppa.

I've yet to meet a regular watermaker user who has any problems with one. You should run them every few days or they will breed bacteria so if you find yourself in a marina just clean and change the pre-filters and flush with fresh (product, not city) water and you'll be fine for another week or so without chemicals. I only pickle once a year on average.
 
We only sail two handed and worked out our daily consumption at 35 litres with showers included, so went with a Katadyn / Pure 80E which fits our need of producing 14 litres per hour.
That tied in with us running our main engine for 3 hours per day to recharge batteries - so now we always run watermaker at same time.
Twas compact enough to fit under the floorboards and easy to plumb. No second holes. We took inlet off engine intake and outlet to sink drain. Have since covered maybe 15,000 miles / 2 years and zero problems despite continual use.
We priced it in UK, said ouch, and priced it again via web in US. Finally got one ex West Marine but off their Ebay site for 50% of UK price - about £2,000 all up - even with tax / shipping it to Mallorca.
FWIW best bit of kit we've invested in.
Good luck.
JOHN
 
We have a Katadyn Pure 80e like Swagman which we bought second hand of Englander (thank you Colin).

Like Swagman we draw water off the engine intake and dump waste to the sink outlet. The 80e draws about 8 amps so we are able to run it off our solar panels without resorting to using the engine for charging and we produce between 10-13 litres per hour.

Providing you follow the operating instructions then they seem to be trouble free. That said we swap the pre-filter every other day (when in use) and then rinse it in the sea and dry it in the sunshine (It sounds a pain but it's not, and it only takes a few minutes.) We have a couple of pre-filters so we use the in rotation.

As others have said, if you don't use it every 3-4 days there is a risk of bacteria building up on the membranes and you should pickle the system.

This is a very simple process which involves turning a valve and the having the water maker suck up a couple of litres or so of the pickling fluid out of a bucket - it takes a few minutes only.

Would I recommend one?

On balance yes. The money you save in Marina fees and the freedom and convenience you get make it very worthwhile.
 
The two of us use nearly 100 litres a day. We did have a policy to turn off running taps etc., but that was tedious, it seems, so thank heavens for the watermaker. As Silver Fox says, the savings vs going into a marina are huge, the effort is minimal, the power isn't an issue and if you shop around the price need not be very high - in liveaboard terms, different for a holiday/weekend yacht, of course.

Edit: By the way, we do all our clothes washing on board with a washing mashine. That takes a bit.
 
As someone who spends the four summer months away from Marinas in the Med its a real luxuary to hose off the boat twice a week with fresh water and run the washing machine twice a week. We (Two people) use about 100 L a day normally in the summer this does not include fresh water wash down. We bought Pot. water twice this year in Greece at about 14 Euro a tonne because the gen. set had a problem that is now fixed. The secret is only make water when the sea is clear and away from land if possible, and change the two pre filters on a regular basis. We make about 130 l/hr.
 
What I want is a double reverse osmosis watermaker....

Takes seawater and turns it into diesel. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
Having also had difficulties with getting water in the Med this year, and mainly because we are off to the Caribbean in November, we fitted an Echo-tech. High amp draw (30), so runs with engine on, but simple and appears bullet proof. Makes over 50lts an hour.

It made a great difference to the cruise, but they do need looking after and need to be run every few days. That said the freedom from having to come in every 5 days or so easily made up for it.

We chose it on the basis of satisfied owners, but also because the Curry family who distribute Hydrovane also look after echo-tech. Their customer service is always excellent.
 
Thank you all for the various thoughts. I think a spell at Southampton with a tape measure might be the next step. Fair winds all.
 
One thing is clear from this thread, those who have watermakers use MASSIVELY more water per person than those who don't. More than 10x as much in some cases.

I think that is telling us that availability of fresh water is a real issue. So unless you are really marina hopping or sailing very dirty/turbid water, then a watermaker will enhance your quality of life.


OTOH, you will never get to experience that wonderful feeling when you have the first freshwater shower after weeks of making do with seawater and a cupful of fresh!
 
I don't disagree with any of that. One other point is that we are usually talking about cruising couples and it isn't always the case that both are prepared to 'do without' life's comforts over a long period of time, as in the case of long cruises or living aboard.

When I put my proposals to Mrs L., virtually unlimited water was part of the deal. Lots of things she couldn't have (no garden or greenhouse) but they were offset against things that sounded attractive (warm weather, travel). Lack of water would not have appealed to her one iota. For years, we'd spent many weeks every year from April to late September on our Centaur, based in Falmouth, cruising the West Country, Brittany and the Channel Islands, so Mrs L. knew how basic these things could be. I was (and still am) determined to give her a comfort level as close to being in a house as practicable.

Unless you are prepared to stay in marinas which are too hot in summer and not much fun (as well as being very expensive) then a watermaker is the only way to go.

Having said that, we have some very good friends from the USA who have been cruising since 1976, full time. The use around 5 litres of water a day. They wash, wash up and do their washing in sea water. They don't eat meat, either. Just beans of one sort or another, I think, bought in bulk. Not for everyone and not for us.
 
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They wash, wash up and do their washing in sea water. They don't eat meat, either. Just beans of one sort or another, I think, bought in bulk. Not for everyone and not for us.

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So several good reasons for staying upwind of them then!!

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
IMHO, watermaker is the way to go! The 80E is a great little watermaker, just too small for our needs, which is why we sold it and repa;ced it with a 90l/hr, mains driven one, we run the genny for three hours every two days to charge batteries, so do watermaking and washing machine at the same time.
 
No, absolutely not. You couldn't meet a cleaner and more fastidious couple. It's just that they have become accustomed to doing things in sea water and living off rainwater. It really can be done if that's what you both want. But it isn't for us from choice, though we could and would if we had to - thankfully, we don't!
 
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But it isn't for us from choice, though we could and would if we had to - thankfully, we don't!

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I think you've hit the nail on the head there -- I fully understand why many people choose to fit watermakers, even though they've never featured on my own shopping list. If you have the budget, and don't mind sparing a bit of time to look after them, life's so much more comfortable with lashings of fresh water.

But if, like me, you're not in that happy position (my entire boat's worth less than the kit many people cruise with) it's perfectly possible to adapt to and enjoy a great cruising life without such equipment.
 
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